Daughters
by cheezmunky
Summary: No romance drabble. This one could easily be called Reflections. One character's thoughts on the distant past. But all pasts are distant, oh just read it!
1. Gibbs and Ally

Disclaimer: The characters of NCIS don't belong to me? Oooo, my bad. sheepish grin  
The wonderful lyrics here and there are from John Mayer's "Daughters". It's a beautiful song.

Rating: PG-13 (for safety)

AN: I'm TATE, but who can help loving Mark Harmon? He's not old! Only- ticks aways the years on her fingers, then blushes er, 38 years my senior. Ouch! grimaces Senior... shakes head We're not gonna say that again. Nope. shakes off the creepy feeling All better now. On to the story...

They'd both failed her.

Leroy slowly shook his head in agonized remembrance. He and his first wife had put their daughter, Alyssa through Hell. The constant arguing and yelling had begun when Ally was about 11 and lasted until the marriage was over. They'd finally divorced after 16 year old Alyssa ran away during one of their midnight tempests.

He and Carrie had screamed at each other into the early morning, and when their daughter didn't get up for school, they checked her room. She was gone.

They frantically called the cops and all of Alyssa's friends' houses. The police finally found her at school. It turned out she'd stayed at a friend's house and ridden the bus with her.

When her parents asked why she'd snuck out, she simply said, "I couldn't take it anymore." Then she'd said that they were going to get a divorce or she was leaving both of them.

So began the divorce saga of Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Gibbs had gotten weekend and partial holiday custody. After her senior year in high school, Alyssa had stopped coming altogether. Aside from the occassional holiday cards, he hadn't spoken to his only daughter in over 10 years.

And he had no one to blame but himself. He hadn't been a good husband. But for that, he would've been a wonderful father. He'd had a blast with Ally when she was young. But as his marriage grew stagnate, and the love for his wife died, so did his laughter.

Because of that, Gibbs constantly worried about his daughter. After all, didn't daughters seek out the same relationships with men as they witnessed between their own parents? And despite how much children promise themselves they won't be like their parents, many end up that way.

Leroy sighed. It was a lesson all parents should learn: The cycle you set comes full circle.

_**Fathers be good to your daughters**_

_**Daughters will love like you do**_

_**Girls become lovers who turn into mothers**_

_**So mothers, be good to your daughters too**_

AN: Sorry this is short. It may branch out into different subjects, or, turn into a background piece on Gibbs. Actually, I think I'll do the former and use this first chapter as a prequel to a background piece. Heehehe


	2. Ziva, Ari, and Director David

AN: The lyrics in bold italics are from John Mayer's song "Daughters". I plan on using another verse of it for another chapter in this drabble- which is intended for Kate. I may use another one concerning Tony. I know he's not a daughter, but if you listen to the song, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to pick up on which verses I plan on using for that. Abby's and possible chapters for Ducky and Director Sheppard will be using at least one different song. Feedback is crack. Feed my addiction. :p

**_Oh, you see that skin  
It's the same she's been standing in  
Since the day  
She saw him walking away  
Now she's left, cleaning up the mess he made…_**

Gibbs stared blankly ahead on the drive back to NCIS headquarters. Still mildly shocked by Agent David's action, he was simultaneously pitying her heart and admiring her decision. Even when faced with proof of a loved one's guilt, most people would find it difficult to accept it as fact, let alone protect a stranger by killing their own family. But most people have never been in Ziva's situation.

Listening from the doorway to Gibbs' basement, she'd heard everything her half brother had admitted to- the cold sniping of Agent Todd, the attack on Abby, and the feelings of resentment he harbored toward Gibbs, whom he hated for the sheer, simple reason that the silver haired agent reminded Ari of his own father. A father he blamed for the death of his mother.

And after the confession, when Ari had raised Gibbs' own 9 millimeter to kill him, Ziva had fired the one necessary round straight into her brother's forehead, effectively cleaning up the mess her father had created so many years before. The mess that she had loved despite the fact that he was what her father had left her for years on end to train. And in the end, it was the training Ari had resented that had eventually driven him to corruption.

Ziva had been raised by her mother to hate the sin and not the sinner, so as she had sat on the cool, concrete floor by her brother's body, she wept silently to Adonai- prayers of forgiveness for her brother, and herself…

_**So fathers, be good to your daughters  
Daughters will love like you do  
Girls become lovers  
Who turn into mothers  
So mothers be good to your daughters too…**_


End file.
